Sassanin Empire
The Sassanin Empire were the rulers of the area east of the Sea of Rhun and conquered and integrated other cultures to join their growing army. History :The Sassanin Empire was founded in the beginning of the 3rd age by the surviving Dark Númenoreans fleeing from the retribution that the Last Alliance. As they left Rhun and headed east they became more fanatical and less civilized before reaching the green hills and fields of Sassanin. As this land was uninhabited the Dark Númenoreans took the lands for their own and built cities dedicated to Sauron. As time went on and with no slaves to work for them the Dark Númenoreans had to farm the land and with each generation forgot their history until the exodus from Gondor until they became obsessed with reaching the white city were the high gods were supposed to reside. :At around TA 123 the Kazeds came down from the northern tundra and began to raid the Sassanin villages and massacring the people. After a century of warfare and two sacks of the Sassanin Capital Morus Tregor the Kazeds were defeated and became integrated into the Sassanin culture along with their cities and parts of their religion. As they spread across the east the Sassaninids discovered and then conquered and integrated the Malticar Elves and the Jakatar Tribesman into the Sassanin culture. As they conquered and integrated more and more races the Sassanin left their dark roots and while still evil chose to reject Sauron who have been elevated to almost a deity in favour of the previously minor winged trickster god Mortet. :In the year TA 1833 the Sassaninds arrived at the edges of the desert country of Deradeceral were they encounted the servants of the gods. These servants were in fact the Desert Trolls and the Eastern Goblin Tribes and provided fierce opposition to the Sassanin Empire. Thanks to the capture and control of the Scorpion King the Sassaninds were able to forge an alliance with the Desert Trolls and began to construct a road across the desert. Later in TA 2681 the Goblins fell to the combined might of the Sassaninds and the Desert Trolls and joined their conquerors as mercenaries. :By TA 3002 the great desert road was completed and the Easterling tribes of far Rhun who were still under the influence of Sauron faced the massive army of the Sassaninds. After two years of war Far Rhun was under Sassanin control and those Easterlings who had not been slaughtered were working as scouts and warriors for their overlords. After the death of Sauron the Sassanin Army crossed the Sea of Rhun and by the first year of the 4th age had reached near Rhun and began the last part of their quest for the White City. Religion :The religion of the Sassaninds held a wide pantheon of deities who controlled the forces of nature. In the year T1530 the Sassaninds threw the major god Sauron out in favour for the more benevolent Mortet. The servants of the gods were long limbed ape like creatures and brutish monsters forged from stones. Those Sassaninds who were killed in battle ascended to the heavens and became warriors of Mortet while good men who fell elsewhere joined the court of Kerecal. Those who did evil deeds were taken to Sauron and became cloaked evil monsters who would return to spirit away children. :The Gods of the Sassaninds included the following; ::* Mortet – A winged trickster god that often performed deeds that could either benevolent or malevolent. In the Sassanin mythology Mortet overthrew Sauron who poisoned and later killed Kerecal the goddess of fertility. ::*Kerecal – A goddess of fertility who wore a crown of willow leaves and a gown made of lily petals. Jealous of her beauty Sauron poisoned Kerecal sending her to the underworld when she became the goddess of the dead. ::* Gorterel – A desert spirit originally found in troll mythology who flew over the sand on the wind. After the death of Kerecal he married Garinel a water spirit and had a child who later became a fertility god. ::* Garinel – A water spirit originally found in troll mythology who lived under the earth. After the death of Kerecal she married Gorterel and produced a child Kergladis who became a fertility god. ::* Kergladis – The son of Gorterel and Garinel and a fertility god who replaced Kerecal in this role. He resembled a coiled cobra with a man’s head and could created plagues when angered. ::* Zarbas Zenos – A dark goddess from the religion of the Malticar Elves who controlled magic and the moon. She demanded regular sacrifice of her followers to ensure the fortune of her followers. ::* Jana – A beautiful barbarian hill goddess and twin sister of Tharall, Jana controlled justice and technology. She was often considered a war goddess by her followers and her name was chanted before battle. ::* Tharall – A war god who entered berserk fits of rage especially after drinking. Although a war god he was also considered a god of justice as he punished those who wronged other. ::* Yeragal – A burning often dark god who controlled fire and lived in the Underworld. He acted as a guard for Kerecal from the evil god Sauron and carried a burning whip. It is likely that Yeragal is a Balrog and comes from Goblin mythology. ::* Torcin – A relatively new addition to the Pantheon, Torcin is a giant scorpion. He acted as a god of agriculture and mining and was worshiped by the working sect. ::*Soce – Soce is a sun god who rides a burning horse across the sky and relives Yeragal from his guard duty when he returns to the Underworld. He is also a smith and creates the walls and buildings of the white city. ::*Sauron – The most evil god who was the chief god until TA 1530. After murdering Kerecal he was banished and became an enemy of the other gods. Soldiers and Weaponry : Sassanin Infantry ::The Sassaninds fought in close combat with swords and axes although the later was inspired by the Kazed Beserkers. The main type of sword was a curved narrow scimitar that was used for decapitation and for cutting armor. In addition to this sword the wielder had a buckler mounted on his forearm. The men from Kazed carried large two handed axes which they simply swung at the enemy. Due to this style of fighting they wore heavy plate mail which protected them against most sword types. As a secondary weapon most Sassanin Infantry carried a dagger for ritual sacrifices and close quarters fighting. ::The pikemen that worked for the Sassaninds came from far Rhun and their own folk. The Sassanind spearmen used long fifteen foot pikes to repel cavalry and worked in tight groups of infantry. The Easterlings used their traditional halberds which had axe blades on the end of the spears. Occasionally the Jakatar Tribesmen carried long cane poles with hooks on the end to trip horses and pull siege ladders into place. Like the Easterlings the majority of the Spearmen carried large oblong shields which could interlock to form a shield wall. ::While the majority of the Sassanind archers used compound bows the Malticar Elves used the long bow which had a faster rate of time but less power then the Easterling Compound Bow. The Jakatar often acted as skirmishers and were equipped with throwing spears and slings which they usually threw into enemy lines before retreating behind the shield wall. Most of these archers carried bucklers and leather armor for defence against missiles. :Cavalry ::The only committed cavalry that the Sassaninds owned were Malticar Elves armed with lances and bows. They were generally lightly armoured and were used for running off archers and light infantry while the horse archers harassed the enemy from afar. Later after the conquest of far Rhun the Sassaninds finally got their own heavy cavalry in the form of Easterling Cataphracts. These mail armoured warriors were used as a battering ram to knock holes in enemy formations. ::While not committed cavalry the Desert Trolls could act in a similar fashion to the Cataphracts. The Desert Trolls usually carried bone weapons fashioned out of the bones of the wild wereworms which they used as a club. In addition to this weapon they also carried large crossbows with a range of projectiles for use against infantry and buildings. The final role that the Desert Troll was employed in was to carry a Mantlet for anti missile role. In addition they carried huge sickles that they used as point defence against attackers. :Monsters and Siege ::The Sassaninds had access to a few types of siege weapon which were constructed outside the city before the assault. The first and most important of these was the Petrabolos that was very similar to the catapults used by Sauron during the Siege of Minas Tirith. These catapults could launch a 175kg boulder or incendiary firepot up to 400m into the enemy fortifications. The second siege weapon was the city taker armed with both a ram and a pair of ballista mounted on either side. This weapon was so heavy it took three Desert Trolls to move and operate this siege equipment and could be covered in an armoured shell for protection. The final piece of siege equipment was the siege ladder which was carried by teams of men or goblins to the walls to create an entrance to the city. ::The Sassaninds captured the Scorpion King who they used to blackmail the majority of the Scorpions to come to their banner. After a few generations the Scorpions were willingly fighting for the Sassanind forces and were used as armoured shock troops. Using their pincers and stingers the majority of infantry ran after the first attack. They could only be repelled with fire which they found disturbing and unnatural. In the forests of Jakatar the tribesmen domesticated the Ramstall a large rhino like creature that they used as living battering rams against tight infantry formations. They were also used as mobile missile platforms with archers mounted on towers on their backs. |} Category:Kingdoms